PROGRAM

FACULTY

STUDENTS

EVENTS

LINKS

HOME

FACULTY

PHILLIPS, A.G.

DR. ANTHONY G. PHILLIPS

B.A. (Hon), M.A., Ph.D. (Physiology) (Univ. Western Ontario)

Research in our laboratory addresses two separate issues in the field of behavioural neuroscience. The first concerns the role of brain nomoamines, in particular dopamine, in animal models of motivation and emotion. Through the use of psychopharmacological procedures, and more recently direct in vivo monitoring of changes in extracellular dopamine, the mesotelencephalic dopamine systems has been linked to incentive motivational stimuli that elicit preparatory responses. Significant changes in dopamine have been observed prior to and during sexual behaviour and feeding behaviour. Similar increases also accompany brain-stimulation reward and intravenous self-administration of cocaine. The specific techniques involved in the latter studies are in vivo electrochemistry and microdialysis.

Our second program of research is concerned with the relative contribution of separate neural circuits which project to the ventral striatum, to neural processes underlying learning and memory. The effects of selective manipulations of different structures within these circuits by reversible lesions of receptor-specific agonists/antagonists have revealed separate roles for the prefrontal cortex, ventral subiculum and nucleus accumbens in spacially-mediated delayed memory tasks. Parallel electrophysiological and neurochemical studies also form part of this attempt to define the circuits involved in these aspects of learning and memory.

Selected References:

Brebner, K., Wong, T.P., Liu, L., Campsall, P., Gray, S., Phelps, L., Phillips, A.G., Wang., Y.T. Nucleus accumbens long-term depression and the expression of behavioural sensitization. Science, 310:1340-1343 (2005).

Wong, T.P., Howland, J.G., Robillard, J.M., Ge, Y., Yu, W., Titterness, A.K., Brebner, K., Liu, L., Weinberg, J., Christie, B.R., Phillips, A.G., Wang, Y.T. Hippocampal long-term depression mediates acute stress-induced spatial memory retrieval impairment. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(27):11471-11476 (2007).

Ge, Y., Dong, Z., Bagot, R.C., Howland, J.G., Phillips, A.G., Wong, T.P., Wang, Y.T. Hippocampal long-term depression is required for the consolidation of spatial memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 107(38):16697-16702 (2010).

Butts, K.A., Weinberg, J., Young, A.H., Phillips, A.G. Glucocorticoid receptors in the prefrontalcortex regulate stress-evoked dopamine efflux and aspects of executive function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, October 27, 2011.

Dalton, G.L., Wu, D.C., Wang, Y.T., Floresco, S.B., Phillips, A.G. NMDA GluN2A and GluN2B receptors play separate roles in the induction of LTP and LTD in the amygdala and in the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear. Neuropharmacology (2011).

Lapish, C.C., Belardetti, F., Ashby, D.M., Ahn, S., Butts, K.A., So, K., Macrae, C.M., Hynd, J.J., Miller, J.J., Phillips, A.G. A preclinical assessment of D,L-govadine as a potential antipsychotic and cognitive enhancer. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 10:1-15 (2011).